Hello Greatness,

Guess who’s back here again!! Happy new year. It really is WordPress wishing me a Happy Anniversary for me. I called a meeting with body and soul- Ola you have paid for this thing o, and you have sooo many notes you could post, so I decided to be generous and here I am, sharing!!!!!

“His heart was crushed, but his faith grew”

I feel putting these two sentences together might be offensive for some and I’m sorry if you’re one of them.  You might wonder how my faith is supposed to grow when my heart ❤️ hurts this much. The question we most often pose when we’re in dicey situations is- WHERE IS GOD?

Followed closely by, how can a Loving God allow painful things to happen to me?

While I’m of the belief that God entertains our questions, and He’s not an angry God that doesn’t understand that you’re probably lashing out because of your pain; I do believe that after that temporary loss of judgment, we need to accept Him as a Sovereign God and He never wishes you bad. He doesn’t owe us any explanation, yet He often explains our circumstances to us and He promises us the best. EVERYTHING GOD DOES IS FOR OUR PROFITING (yeah, I know I shouted there).

He understands humanity, for as a man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin.

Hebrews 4:15 TPT

I repeatedly declared that last year was a trying year for me and for each time that I said it, it felt like the devil 👿 was rejoicing and claiming me. I never knew until recently that each time we lost focus on God and looked rather to our situation, we were allowing the devil stake a claim on us. “She’s mine…. He’s mine”. So I take every negative thing I said about last year back, last year was my year to grow in my knowledge of God, and I did.

Because God would never do anything without our free will, all He keeps doing is rooting for us. “It’s just a temporary setback. She’d come back to me.” And then He sends His messengers out there to get us back on His side. Gently cajoling us and lending a voice of reasoning. Basically, He sends people after His heart to plead His case. (This is a side note- every believer out there who takes out time to pray for the body of Christ, praying that people will stay grounded in the Word, please keep at it. God hears and He’s deploying His angels 👼 in response to your prayers. Please don’t give up because you don’t always see the results. There’s probably someone who needed to be brought back from the enemy’s camp 🏕️)

As humans, we are also quick to look at the errors of others or to justify our wrongdoings by pointing out the misdeeds in others. I’m human, human is me. It was quite easy for me to point out how Abraham lied about Sarah to protect himself (I have a whole other write up about God-preservation vs self-preservation) and how Hagar got involved. How could his faith then be counted as faithfulness before God? Like God, you see that Your friend was not quite as holy. But what I saw through it was his constant choice to obey God and stand on God’s promises. He must have been hurt when his beloved wife was taunted by Hagar….. like God, but you promised me children through Sarah. I really don’t like how she’s hurting. All I know is, if you read the account in Hebrew, you will see how Abraham’s faith grew. You should read Genesis 20:18 to see what God did to take care of His own.

Ezra is another example. He was a leader in a trying time- when the whole tribe was going to be wiped out, yet he believed. I know I’m about to break someone’s heart with my next sentence, and it was hard for me to grasp too……. Nothing can really be as hard as what the Jews had to face on the 12th day of Adar (Referring to the decree the King gave about wiping off the whole generation. Read this in Esther 3). Not just one person- at least parents could have decided to sacrifice themselves for their children, but nobody stood a chance. The same God who delivered them is still in power. He can never be dethroned. Be rest assured that He’s coming for you.

“Life often brings us more sorrow than we think we can bear. But God is greater than every desolation. He is greater even than death. He will see us through.”

Even if your heart is crushed, be encouraged. God has the best plans for you. Let your knowledge of Him grow. If you are armed by previous testimonies, your faith will grow. Thankfully, the Bible is so complete you can see everything there. Since God is still at work today, you can even find testimonies in recent times. My church does an amazing job of collating testimonies so you can check them out on YouTube. Watching them will help boost your faith in God and keep you grounded in His promises.

Stay encouraged,

Mz_Ola